Cosey Fanni Tutti
Bernard Herrmann – The Murder (1960)
I actually enjoy scary music, but the piece that gives me the most chills is the shower scene score from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. I’ve watched it many times, and even though I know what’s going to happen, the combination of the stabbing knife and Bernard Herrmann’s music always unsettles me.
Lately, I went through a phase of watching Japanese and Korean horror films. I had to stop because they weren’t good for my heart condition, but none of them had the same impact as the Psycho shower scene. When music is paired with visuals, it amplifies the audio experience and engages other senses. Letting go and following the filmmaker’s interpretation of the sound keeps you in a state of heightened anticipation for the unexpected, which is truly frightening.
Stephen O’Malley, Sunn O)))
Abruptum – Evil (1991)
I bought this notorious seven-inch record from my friend Odin in 1992—he was one of the first in the U.S. to run a DIY black-metal distribution from his living room. We didn’t know what it was or whether to play it at 33rpm or 45rpm. It’s chaotic, deranged, improvised doom/black metal filled with agony and torture. There were many rumors about their late leader Tony Särkkä, known as IT, some of which were later confirmed by engineer Dan Swanö. Back then, we heard it was a recording of someone named IT being tortured and electrocuted during the vocal sessions.
Black metal often faces criticism when it reaches a wider audience, but I believe darkness is even more profound in the light—and today’s mainstream is far more twisted than that obscure, dungeon-like scene was in the early ’90s.
Amy Walpole, Witch Fever
Sloppy Jane – Jesus and Your Living Room Floor (2021)
I was drawn to Sloppy Jane’s album Madison because it was recorded in a cave. “Jesus and Your Living Room Floor” is open to interpretation, but I think it’s about loneliness and wanting to be remembered after death. Some lyrics describe dying in grotesque ways, while others use everyday images like a plastic horse.
Having been raised in a charismatic Christian church—essentially a cult—until I was 16, I connect with the religious themes. I find the song cathartic. It’s essentially a ballad, but dark, gothic, and sad, and I love its strange, underground vibe. I listen to it all the time.
Stephen Mallinder, Cabaret Voltaire
Henry Blair – Sparky’s Magic Piano (1947)
This was part of a series of mini musical plays about a little boy named Sparky learning to play the piano. I heard it when I was around five, more than ten years after its release. The BBC used to air Children’s Favourits on Saturday mornings, playing music adults thought kids would like, often novelty tunes from the ’40s and ’50s that I found deeply disturbing. Even now, they trigger a PTSD-like response in me.
Sparky’s Magic Piano both fascinated and terrified me. When Sparky’s mother left the room, the piano would start talking to him using a Sonovox, an early vocoder. I think that sparked my lasting interest in manipulating voices, but as a five-year-old, I was convinced it was a small boy trapped inside the piano forever.
TheOGM, Ho99o9
Herbie Hancock – Paint Her Mouth, from the Death Wish soundtrack (1974)
My dad was a big fan of action films, so I saw Death Wish as a kid. We lived in an urban environment similar to the New York portrayed in the movie, with gangs, muggings, and home invasions, so I could relate to it. To me, that reality was much scarier than…Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street.
Later in life, I discovered the soundtrack, and hearing it on its own is truly chilling. Herbie Hancock is a genius, but what I admire is how he achieves so much with so little—like a subtle snare drum, minimalist synth, an echo, or some strings. It evokes a sense of darkness, as if someone is following you, making you want to clutch your purse or have your keys ready when you reach your door.
Tatiana Shmayluk, Jinjer
Agatha Christie – Opium for No One (1994)
As a child, scary cartoons or movies didn’t frighten me much. But after my older brother introduced me to rock music, I listened to this one winter afternoon when my parents were at work, and it gave me chills. It’s Russian darkwave, and the title translates to “Opium for No One.” It’s more gothic and melancholic than outright horrifying, but the lyrics are deeply dark. “I paint my lips black with shoe polish… the stars shine beautifully at me and hell looks attractive.” Then: “Kill me, kill yourself, you won’t change anything.”
At nine years old, I didn’t understand what it meant and created images in my mind. I was born in Russia but grew up in Ukraine, and in those countries during the 90s, the music became quite bleak. Now, I live in California. All my friends have left Ukraine, and when I call my mom, I sometimes hear bombing in the background.
Taylor Momsen, the Pretty Reckless
John Williams – Main Title, Theme From Jaws (1975)
I first saw Jaws when I was 10 or 11, and the film wouldn’t be the same without John Williams’ theme. To me, it’s the ultimate horror theme because of its simplicity. With just two notes and slight variations in intensity, it builds incredible tension. You feel something is approaching, and those two notes mirror the primal simplicity of a shark’s mind.
What sets Jaws apart from zombie or monster movies is that the threat—a shark attack—is real. I love swimming and used to spend hours in the ocean at my house in Maine. If that music pops into your head and something brushes your foot, you can’t help but panic and think, “Shark!”
William Von Ghould, Creeper
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Stagger Lee (1996)
I remember bringing the Murder Ballads album home in my twenties, and my housemate asked me to turn off this track because it scared him. Stagger Lee is a modern take on an American folk ballad, but it’s nothing like the original. It’s extremely graphic, and the frightening part is that the villain is human. Cave embodies a murderous character so convincingly. The song includes a shocking, violent line: “I’ll crawl over 50 good pussies just to get one fat boy’s asshole”—it’s probably more shocking now than it was then. Like a great horror film, the song leaves you breathless. We perform with many dark, Halloween-themed bands, but nothing is as authentically scary as this.
Cassy Brooking (AKA Cassyette)
Ethel Cain – Perverts (2025)
Ethel Cain (AKA Hayden Anhedönia) appeared on my Spotify and gradually made her way into all my playlists. Her album Perverts is the most frightening modern music I’ve heard and quite a shift from her earlier work. The entire album is drone music with minimal layers, but she lets each sound linger, keeping you on edge.
Initially, I had mixed feelings because it’s genuinely creepy, but her music is filled with guilt and sin and takes you on a journey. It evokes deep emotions, almost like exposure therapy. The track Pulldrone reminds me of American Horror Story, one of my favorite TV shows, and features the creepiest voice, like a prayer. I love the album, but it’s so terrifying that I still can’t listen to it all the way through.
JamieStewart, Xiu Xiu
Diamanda Galás – Schrei x (1996)
In my twenties, a friend introduced me to the album Diamanda Galás made with John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin [The Sporting Life, 1994]. On the cover, he’s driving a stylish classic car while she leans across the hood with a crazed expression, holding a knife. That image made me want to listen to her music. To me, she’s one of the most intense musicians ever, and Schrei x is her most relentlessly frightening work. It’s truly wild and untamed, entirely a cappella and recorded live.
I’m amazed that such a gut-wrenching use of the human voice was performed in front of an audience. For a long time, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing when I listened to it. Recently, I played it at the gym—it’s an odd choice for the StairMaster.
Diamanda Galás
Iannis Xenakis – Mycenae-Alpha (1978)
This was the first piece Xenakis created using the Upic computer tool he developed to turn hand-drawn sketches into electronic music. As a Greek resistance fighter, he suffered severe facial injuries from shrapnel and was imprisoned multiple times. His music is fierce, challenging to perform, and incredibly innovative.
The raw power of Mycenae-Alpha immediately drew me in. I saw the composer as a master warrior using music like a volley of harpoons. At the time, I was working on my first vocal pieces and had already performed “Wild Women with Steak-knives (the Homicidal Love Song for Solo Scream)” [from Galás’s 1982 debut, The Litanies of Satan], so this work affirmed I was on the right path. An experimental singer needs a vast repertoire of screams, and Mycenae-Alpha serves as a compositional guide.
The Mycenaeans were an elite Greek warrior class, unmatched in strategy and known for their imposing walls and architecture, as if built by a Cyclops. Mycenae-Alpha is as terrifying as the giant imaginary hand that composed it.
Sade Sanchez, LA Witch
Krzysztof Penderecki – The Devils of Loudun (1969)
This opera by the Polish composer is based on Aldous Huxley’s book of the same name, which recounts true events from the 17th century. A group of nuns experienced mass hysteria, convinced they were possessed by demons, leading to public exorcisms and burnings at the stake.
The story alone is terrifying, and the music captures it perfectly, especially in the portrayal of the main nun’s descent into madness. It’s brilliantly crafted with organ, flutes, vocals, a choir, and eerie effects like strange laughter and human sounds. Though it’s sung in German and can be unsettling and spooky, it’s also strikingly beautiful. You truly feel the women’s despair, highs, and lows.
Spencer Charnas, Ice Nine Kills
John Carpenter – Halloween soundtrack (1978)
In terms of impact on horror cinema, John Carpenter’s Halloween soundtrack ranks alongside Jaws and Psycho. Initially, the film had no score and received a lukewarm response. Carpenter recalled a 20th Century Fox executive telling him, “There’s nothing scary about this movie.” After adding the music, the same executive praised it as tremendous.
Unlike the orchestral scores of Bernard Herrmann for Psycho or Harry Manfredini for Friday the 13th, the Halloween soundtrack is minimalist, often just a synthesiser, yet deeply unsettling. It evokes the fear of the unknown or the sense that something is terribly wrong.Ice Nine Kills. Photo credit to be confirmed.
Takiaya Reed from Divide and Dissolve shares:
Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8 in C minor (1960)
My father used to play this at home when I was young, and it frightened me. Years later, I learned that Shostakovich composed it in just three days after visiting Dresden in 1960—a city devastated by World War II bombings—where he was overwhelmed by the horrors of genocide and fascism. I understood then that my childhood fear came from sensing the dread and terror in his music. This piece has intense dynamics and energy, and it can bring listeners to tears. Even now, it moves and unsettles me, but that’s part of its power.
[Image: Johannes Eckerström of Avatar, center, with a ‘diabolical smile.’ Photo: Johan Carlén]
‘Not many people in metal look like me’: Read more about Divide and Dissolve, the doom band advocating for Indigenous sovereignty.
Johannes Eckerström of Avatar selects:
Sumio Shiratori – Moomin soundtrack (1990)
As a kid, I was always attracted to spooky stuff, like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video with zombies or shows like The Addams Family and The Munsters, and I adored their music. But nothing scared me more than the Japanese anime adaptation of the Finnish Moomin books. It was essentially horror for children, featuring a eerie, ghostly character called the Groke, who emitted cold and had a sinister grin. The author respected children’s intelligence, using this figure to explore loneliness and loss.
The music functioned like the Jaws theme—those deep double-bass notes signaled impending danger. The synths sound dated now, but as a child, they petrified me. Over time, what once was frightening becomes thrilling. Today (October 31), new releases include Creeper’s “Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death,” Witch Fever’s “Fevereaten,” and Avatar’s “Don’t Go in the Forest.” Sunn O)))’s EP “Eternity’s Pillars” is already available.
Listen to these artists’ picks on Spotify below, or use the playlist link to access it on Apple Music, Tidal, or other platforms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the topic of Goth and metal musicians discussing terrifying music based on your prompt
General Beginner Questions
1 What is this list of terrifying music all about
Its a curated list where wellknown Goth and metal musicians share the songs or albums they personally find the most frightening or unsettling
2 Why would a Goth or metal musician find music terrifying
Even musicians who create intense music can be deeply affected by sounds that evoke primal fear psychological unease or a genuinely sinister atmosphere much like anyone else
3 What was the story about the nuns
One of the musicians recalled a specific piece of music or a chant performed by nuns that was so intense and disturbing it led some of the nuns themselves to believe they had become demonpossessed while performing it
4 Can you give an example of a song that might be on this list
While the exact list isnt provided here musicians might name things like the dissonant classical piece Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima by Penderecki or early industrial albums like Horse Rotorvator by Coil
Deeper Advanced Questions
5 What makes a piece of music terrifying beyond just being loud or heavy
True sonic terror often comes from elements like atonality dissonance unusual time signatures disturbing samples lyrical themes about psychological horror or a general atmosphere of dread and unease
6 Is the goal of this music just to scare people
Not always For many artists and listeners this music is a way to explore the darker aspects of the human experience confront fears in a safe space or simply appreciate the power of sound to evoke deep complex emotions
7 How can I start listening to this kind of music without being completely overwhelmed
Start with artists often cited as gateway bands like early Black Sabbath for its doomladen riffs or Joy Division for its profound melancholy Then you can gradually explore more challenging genres like Dark Ambient Noise or Drone Metal
8 Whats the difference between music that is dark and music that is genuinely terrifying
Dark music might be sad aggressive or angry but it can still be catchy or have
